Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye agreed on Monday to rapidly deploy military forces and capabilities inside the kingdom under their Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said, in response to mounting security threats from the conflict in Yemen.
The decision followed an emergency meeting in Riyadh of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee (SPDC) of the Makkah Defence Alliance, held against a backdrop of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The committee “decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective defence commitments” and to ensure the “rapid deployment in the kingdom” of agreed forces and capabilities, the Foreign Office said in a statement.
The move would take place “in accordance with the approved arrangements and the national legislation of the parties,” it added, without naming any specific threat.
The three members condemned “in the strongest terms” what they called the attempted targeting of Makkah and Madina, as well as continuing attacks on Saudi cities and civilian and economic facilities, reaffirming their rejection of any attack on the kingdom’s security and territorial integrity.
Pakistan and Turkiye separately commended the “vigilance and readiness” of Saudi forces in countering the attacks, the statement said.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, speaking to new channel after the meeting, said Saudi Arabia had made gains in Yemen and “recovered some areas” in fighting with the Houthis. He said Pakistani and Turkish forces had a “presence in theatre” but that only Saudi troops were engaged in combat, with both allies playing a “supportive role.”
Asif said the meeting formalized the alliance’s operational structure. The SPDC appointed Pakistan’s Lieutenant General (Retd) Nauman Mahmood as the alliance’s first secretary general for a three-year term, the Foreign Office said.
Pakistan’s delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and Defence Minister Asif.
The Makkah defence pact, signed on Aug 7, commits its members to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. The SPDC meeting came as Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition government launched a major campaign to recapture Houthi-held territory, with both sides trading strikes over the weekend, including a Houthi attack on an Aramco facility south of Riyadh.
